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UNY Board of Ordained Ministry attend BOM training in Chicago

October 24, 2016 / By Sue Russell

Upper NY Board of Ordained Ministry representatives attended the Board of Ordained Ministry (BOM) Quadrennial Training, Oct. 3 – 6, 2016, held in Chicago, IL.  Matt Stengel, Sue Russell, Beckie Sweet, Bob Kolvick-Campbell, Heather Williams, Brooke Newell, Ann Cole, and Brian Fellows participated.  The BOM Quadrennial Training helps prepare new and seasoned BOM officers and members for the work of recruiting, developing, and credentialing ministerial leaders for the United Methodist Church. The conference began with a sermon titled, “Great Leadership,” by Bishop Steiner Ball during opening worship. Using a text from Nehemiah, Bishop Ball focused on a time for building shared leadership with principled Christian leaders. She outlined that great leaders: stay centered in God, learn what they do not know, are humble, dream bigger dreams, build community and unity, and provide motivation for others to lead as well.

Rev. Dr. Elaine A. Heath, Dean of Duke Divinity School, gave the keynote presentation on “Preparing Leaders for the Church of Tomorrow.”  Heath focused on how there has been a radical culture shift, and we need to help the people imagine what the future church looks like. The Church needs to adapt and respond to what the Holy Spirit is doing in the world today. Emerging leaders need both classical and new forms of theological education in order to help the church listen and respond to the needs of our neighbors beyond the church walls.

Upper New York’s very own, Dr. Scott Johnson, inspired and challenged the participants to assess the reality around us and our cross cultural competency through his presentation on “Assessing Ministry Needs and Responding to Different Contexts and Skills”.”Johnson presented statistics about how the mission field in the United States is diverse and getting younger.  He reported that we as the Church are not as diverse as our mission field, and although we are becoming more diverse, we are not keeping up with changes in the population. Diversity represents humanity and diversity is our reality.  Intercultural competency, effective and appropriate behavior and communication in intercultural situations is needed from ministerial leaders. The role of BOM is not to require conformity, but allow candidates to be who they are as they go through the process.

Workshop choices were available for technical learning for officers of BOM, District Superintendents, Chairs of the Orders and Fellowship, continuing education, and recruitment. Strategic workshops on clergy ethics, Course of Study, Licensing School, credentialing, interview techniques, provisional membership, challenges of caring for “English as a second language” candidates,  and alignment of Cabinet and BOM priorities were offered.

Changes in the UM Discipline from the 2016 General Conference were explained.  Time was given for the discussion of the new eight year assessment of clergy that will have to be implemented by January 2020.  The Board of Ordained Ministry has been tasked to develop the process for formal reviews and self –evaluations using the Effective Ministry Assessment tools from GBHEM and coaching resources.

The final day of the training concluded with a presentation from Lalene Rector, President of Garrett - Evangelical Theological School in Evanston, Illinois, reviewed the relationship between schools of theology and boards of ordained ministry. Rector mentioned that new faith communities do not look like traditional churches, so what leadership skills do clergy need today? Pastoral leaders need to be committed to the Biblical and theological core of our denomination while being involved in a relevant ministry that makes a difference in our changing culture. This was followed by a presentation on the Young Clergy Initiative. It is never too early to talk to the young people in our congregations about being a ministerial leader.